Happy Halloween! I will be wrapping up spooky season with a little bit of This Year vs Last Year. It’s always fun to change up the decorations a bit each year so it seems fresh even if I am not buying a lot of new items. This helps me to stay on budget and allows me to add some new items each year too. Another tip to staying on budget is, at the end of each season when I putting away my decorations, I keep a notes list in my phone of items I want to buy for the next year. It’s very easy to walk into a HomeGoods and see all of the cute new seasonal items and buy something that I don’t have the space for or another throw pillow or towel that I don’t need. I want to be intentional in how I am spending my budget each year.

I also like to pick a specific area in the house to focus on that year. Last year it was our kitchen and this year it was our bar area. What will next year be? We will see.

I took some photos of our house last year (2022) vs this year (2023) and will give you a little house tour. So, welcome to our house during spooky season.

Kitchen:
This room remained pretty unchanged. I did buy some new towels to add to the room, which I think is a very easy and affordable update. I am lacking in photos of this room from 2022 (whoops) but I did find one of the stove area.

Bar Area:
This was the focus area for this year. I had started a spooky vibe for this spot last year, but felt like I needed to add more to it. I found the wine glasses that are doubling as holders for my stirrers and straws at HomeGoods this year. And then I swapped out a gold skeleton for a black one that fit on the tray. Also new to the space are the pumpkin and mummy greens on the shelf. Love how perfectly these fit here. I also decided not to put up the bats this year. Really no reason other than just wanting to change it up, but I did love this look last year.

The spider web is a favorite older purchase. Growing up my mom had a large spider web wire decoration that she would put out every year. I had been on the hunt for something similar and finally found this one for my house.

Living Room:
This room was all about repurposing items. But, I didn’t love my mantel decor last year so that was saved in my notes of items to buy this year. I ended up finding the garland on Amazon and I am loving how this turned out. Also, those pumpkins on the fireplace are a staple every year. I love this Hobby Lobby find.

See the pumpkin can decoration on the coffee table in the picture on the right? Would you believe this was a handmade craft from girl scouts in the 90s? This may be the only craft item of mine from childhood that I will use in my house. Luckily there was a lot of help from my mom (the craft leader) on this one to make it still usable today.

The coffee table has a new to me item this year. These acorns were an item my mom had in her house for many years and I had been eyeing. I was happy when she asked if I had wanted them. I needed something that was just fall but not pumpkins.

This new coffee table decoration may be the most popular piece in our house this year. I’m not sure what it is about it, but baby Logan has been loving looking at this so much that we have named this piece “Frank and Friends”. My husband, Ryan, has even joked that we should just keep this out and add a Santa hat to it for Christmas. This space is still pretty plain so I think this will be kept in my notes as an improvement area for 2024.

Dining Room:
The dining room didn’t change much this year, but this is one of my favorite rooms in the house. The sign was a great Hobby Lobby find from a few years ago and I couldn’t love this saying more.

That wraps it up for today, friends. Thank you for stopping by for this tour and hope you have a Happy Halloween!